Experience and training in field work are critical components of undergraduate education in ecology, and many university courses incorporate field-based or experiential components into the curriculum in order to provide students hands-on experience. Due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the sudden shift to remote instruction in the spring of 2020, many instructors of such courses found themselves struggling to identify strategies for developing rigorous field activities that could be completed online, solo, and from a student's backyard. This case study illustrates the process by which one field-based course, a UC California Naturalist certification course offered at the University of California, Davis, transitioned to fully remote instruction. The transition relied on established, publicly available, online participatory science platforms (e.g., iNaturalist) to which the students contributed data and field observations remotely. Student feedback on the course and voluntary-continued engagement with the participatory science platforms indicates that the student perspective of the experience was on par with previous traditional offerings of the course. This case study also includes topics and participatory science resources for consideration by faculty facing a similar transition from group field activities to remote, individual field-based experiences.Although the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in about a 24% decline in India's GDP during the April-June 2020 quarter, the nation's agricultural sector, somewhat surprisingly, seems to have done remarkably well. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/mk-4827.html This paper examines whether the public transfer program Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY), announced immediately after the lockdown, benefited farmers in dealing with the COVID shock. Overall, 95% of the smallholders received support from at least one of PMGKY's four components. Direct cash transfers had significantly more impact than in-kind transfer schemes. The result shows that farmers receiving cash transfers under PM-KISAN, one component of PMGKY, were more likely to invest in buying seeds. In contrast, farmers receiving cash transfers under PM-UY, another piece of PMGKY, were more likely to invest in fertilizer and pesticides. Finally, smallholders who received benefits from all four components of PMGKY were more likely to invest in purchasing seeds, fertilizer, and pesticides. Findings suggest the fungibility of public cash transfers from the recent PMGKY scheme is significant in alleviating credit constraints and increasing future investments in modern inputs.Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) has been associated with myocardial injury and higher risk of arrhythmic complications. However, no reports are available about the effect of the ongoing pandemic on arrhythmias in patients at risk.
To describe the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on arrhythmic burden among high-risk patients.
This is a cross-sectional study on the incidence of ventricular arrhythmia (VA) during the pandemic outbreak (study period), compared to the same timeframe in 2019 (reference period). Inclusion criteria were age (&gt;18years) and having an implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD).
Among 455 patients enrolled (mean age 64.9±15.7years; 25.1% females and 39.6% with CRTD), in the study period, 45 (9.9%) patients experienced a total of 86 VA; 8 patients (1.7%) required antitachycardia-pacing (ATP) and 6 (1.3%) at least one shock. In the reference period, a total of 69 events occurred in 36 patients (7.9%). Six patients (1.3%) required ATP and three (0.7%) at least one shock. The number of patients that suffered from any arrhythmic events in the study period (9.9% vs 7.9%) did not significantly differ from the reference period (χ=1.09, =.29). The main predictor of VA during the COVID-19 pandemic was the previous history of any ICD therapy (OR=3.84, &lt;.001).
No evidence of an increase of arrhythmic burden was found during the COVID-19 pandemic among patients with an ICD.
No evidence of an increase of arrhythmic burden was found during the COVID-19 pandemic among patients with an ICD.ECG abnormalities associated with COVID-19 pneumonia and adverse outcome are undefined and poorly described in prior studies.
To assess the predictive role of baseline ECG markers of increased risk of malignant arrhythmias and cardiac death for adverse in-hospital outcomes.
A retrospective study included 93 patients of newly diagnosed COVID-19 with features consistent with pneumonia who were admitted to the hospital from August 20 to September 20, 2020. The main outcomes were defined as receiving mechanical ventilation, in-hospital cardiac arrest, length of ICU stay, and degree of lung damage according to computed tomography (CT) score.
Increased QTc (QT corrected) interval, Tp-e (T from peak to end) interval, and transmural dispersion of repolarization (TDR) were independent predictors of prolonged ICU stay (&lt;.0001) after adjustment for baseline clinical characteristics. Increasing age (&lt;.0001) followed by increased QTc interval (=.02) and history of chronic lung disease (=.04) were independent predictors of extensive lung damage. The independent predictors for in-hospital cardiac arrest were increased QTc (=.02) followed by increasing age (=.04) and increased Tp-e interval (=.04).
Repolarization abnormalities on baseline ECG may be useful prognostic markers in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia.
Repolarization abnormalities on baseline ECG may be useful prognostic markers in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia.This comparative study traces the foundation and development of vocational and career guidance services in three Central and Eastern European countries in the light of the contextually bound factors of this region. Since the beginning of the 20th century, political transitions and changes in the ruling structures in these countries were so frequent that the same generation was often confronted with multiple forms of governance the rule of 'König und Kaiser', the monarchy, the communist regime, neoliberal economic policies with mass privatisation, membership of the European Union.The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10775-021-09473-4.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10775-021-09473-4.